Blockchain’s Real Estate Reality

If you’ve been thinking blockchain is all about Bitcoin, you’re not alone. As a recent study by BuzzSumo shows there were more than 40,000 Bitcoin-related articles published every week in December. With the mainstream media spotlight shining brightly on “Bitcoin Billionaires,” it’s hard not to notice. Of course, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are based on the latest in blockchain technology. But technology is “technical”—which explains why this great, enabling advancement lives in the shadows of the coin crowd.

From Crypto to Cash

Whether talking about Bitcoin or blockchain, even new technology cannot immediately overcome old thinking. At the Inman Connect New York event, one lucky Miami real estate professional talked about how she had brokered not one, but four cryptocurrency real estate deals. As the interview came to a close, the question was posed, “How did the escrow work?” The answer? The buyer converted their Bitcoin millions to the common U.S. dollar. In the end, the story was about the common “cash deal.” Crypto is coming to real estate, and there are edge cases today, but it is far from mainstream as it is still treated as a simple asset class. With that interview as motivation for a more common-sense approach, let’s take a closer look at how the future of blockchain might unfold.